Sheathing lever



Oct. 18, 1960 M. E. AMES SHEATHING LEVER Filed Jan. 17, 1958 INVENTOR United States Patent SHEATHING LEVER Merle E. Ames, Dover, Idaho Filed Jan. 17, 1958, Ser. No. 709,549

1 Claim. (Cl. 254-17) This invention relates to hand tools and, more particularly, to a mechanical advantage device.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hand tool for use in the building trades for facilitating the sheathing walls, floors, and the like with lumber.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tool of the above type that will enable a carpenter or other worker to force a warped or twisted board into place against a previously nailed board using only one hand for this purpose, thus leaving the other hand free to secure the board in place with nails while it is being so held.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a sheath ing lever bearing the above objects in mind which is of simple construction, has a minimum number of parts, is inexpensive to manufacture and efiicient in operation.

For other objects and for a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the hand tool attached to a joist,

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the hand tool,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 44 of Fig. 3.

Referring now more in detail to the drawing, a sheathing lever made in accordance with the present invention is shown to include a main frame 12 lying substantially within a single plane having a handle 13 at one end and a pair of spaced apart side arms 14 at the opposite end. A wedge mounting block 15 is secured, such as by bolts 16, to the inside of each of the side arms 14. Each of these mounting blocks 15 have an inclined inner surface 17 and a longitudinal slot 18.

As is more clearly shown in Figure 3 of the drawing, the slots 18 of the mounting blocks 15 converge toward one side and diverge toward the opposite side of the main frame. Grip blocks 20 having inwardly facing teeth 19, have longitudinal grooves 22 along each side which slidably receive the inwardly turned flanges 21 of the mounting blocks 15, whereby the grip blocks 20 are slidable within the slots 18 of the mounting blocks, the serrated surfaces 19 of the grip blocks remaining parallel at all times. End stops 23 integrally formed at one end of the mounting blocks prevent disassembly of the grip blocks therewith, while removable end plates 25 are secured at the opposite ends of the mounting blocks, such as by 2,956,777 Patented Oct. 18, 1960 ice screws 26, for this same purpose. As is shown in Figure 2, a fulcrum member 30 is secured to the main frame 12 intermediate the handle and side arms thereof and centrally between the grip blocks 20.

In actual use, the main frame 12 is lowered over a joist 32 or stud and the teeth 19 of the grip blocks 20 are forced into gripping engagement therewith by drawing the frame 12 in the direction of the arrows shown in Figure 3. This movement will direct the wedge blocks 20 inwardly toward each other in the direction of the associated arrows. The tool is engaged with the joist 32 immediately adjacent to a warped board 33, whereby the warped board 33 can be forced into abutting engagement with the previously mounted board 34 by pulling the handle 13 in the direction of the arrow shown in Figure 2. Thus, by maintaining the pull upon the handle with the warped board in proper position, the worker may use the other hand to drive a securing nail 35 into holding engagement therewith, after which the tool may be removed. The depending fulcrum plate 30 facilitates the release of the tool since its engagement with the top of the joist 32 constitutes a fulcrum and movement of the handle 13 in the direction of the arrow shown in broken lines will cause movement of the mounting blocks 15 in a direction that will receive the pressure against the grip blocks 20, thus enabling the entire tool to be lifted in a single motion.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A sheathing tool comprising, a frame member adapted to engage a sheathing board having a handle at one end and a pair of spaced apart side arms at the opposite end lying in a substantially common plane, a pair of wedge mounting blocks pivotally carried by said side arms, a pair of grip blocks, means for mounting said grip blocks in said mounting blocks for reciprocating longitudinal movement at an acute angle to a plane intermediate said side arms extending normal to said common plane, said grip blocks being movable toward each other into gripping engagement with a joist in response to pivotal movement of said frame member relative to said mounting blocks in -a direction within said intermediate plane when said frame member is moved into engagement with said board, and a fulcrum plate depending from one side of said frame intermediate said handle and said side arms, said fulcrum plate being centrally located intermediate said side arms and engageable with the top of the joist when the frame member is moved in the opposite direction whereby said grip blocks are movable away from each other to release the tool from the joist.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,911,705 McMullen May 30, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 134,138 Austria July 10, 1933 

